Shams: Christian Braun Agrees to 5-yr/$125M Extension with the Denver Nuggets

[MarcusBrody]

Honestly, I'm not that worried about Braun (and Cam Johnson). I think that their shots will come around and we hopefully are lookign at early season adaptation/low sample size variance.

In some ways, I think it speaks to the Nuggets potential that they're playing well offensively while two players are well below their average level shooting the ball. They're 0.1 pts behind the highest scoring team in the league and 3rd in offensive rating while having 4 of 5 starters shooting well below (or REALLY well below) their career/last season average from 3. Gordon is the only starter shooting above his career average and he is less than a percentage point above his mark for last season, so it isn't a wild outlier. Even if the other 4 starters regress to slightly under their means, the team will be putting up a lot of points.

[Exp0sed]

Honestly, I'm not that worried about Braun (and Cam Johnson). I think that their shots will come around and we hopefully are lookign at early season adaptation/low sample size variance.

In some ways, I think it speaks to the Nuggets potential that they're playing well offensively while two players are well below their average level shooting the ball. They're 0.1 pts behind the highest scoring team in the league and 3rd in offensive rating while having 4 of 5 starters shooting well below (or REALLY well below) their career/last season average from 3. Gordon is the only starter shooting above his career average and he is less than a percentage point above his mark for last season, so it isn't a wild outlier. Even if the other 4 starters regress to slightly under their means, the team will be putting up a lot of points.

AG made history last season by being the only player in NBA history to improve both his FG% and 3P%, year to year by as much as he did. he went from 30% on 3's to 40%+ and from 65% FT% to 81%. he has completely reinvented himself as a shooter, so his career marks aren't all that relevant, as he's a much better shooter now and his current %'s, aren't just sustainable - i'm betting they'll go up further into the season

Braun will be fine

[MarcusBrody]

Honestly, I'm not that worried about Braun (and Cam Johnson). I think that their shots will come around and we hopefully are lookign at early season adaptation/low sample size variance.

In some ways, I think it speaks to the Nuggets potential that they're playing well offensively while two players are well below their average level shooting the ball. They're 0.1 pts behind the highest scoring team in the league and 3rd in offensive rating while having 4 of 5 starters shooting well below (or REALLY well below) their career/last season average from 3. Gordon is the only starter shooting above his career average and he is less than a percentage point above his mark for last season, so it isn't a wild outlier. Even if the other 4 starters regress to slightly under their means, the team will be putting up a lot of points.

AG made history last season by being the only player in NBA history to improve both his FG% and 3P%, year to year by as much as he did. he went from 30% on 3's to 40%+ and from 65% FT% to 81%. he has completely reinvented himself as a shooter, so his career marks aren't all that relevant, as he's a much better shooter now and his current %'s, aren't just sustainable - i'm betting they'll go up further into the season

Braun will be fine

I give credit to AG's warehouse home/training center/lair.

[TheShow2021]

They needed a guy who could play defense and wasn't a negative on offense. Yeah it would be nice to get a top tier 3 and D player but those guys demand near or at the max kinds of salaries in today's game.

AJ Green...... salary 2m career 3p 42.9 this year 52.9 3.4/6.4. ! min 27.0
Ryan Rollins. salary 0.5m. career 3p 40.7 this year 38.5 1.9/4.9 min 31.0
Gary Trent Jr. salary. 2m. career 3p 39.0 this year 37.7 2.9/ 7.6 min 28.8
Taurean Prince salary 2m career 3p 38.4 this year 42.9. 1.5/3.5 min 21.1

For a little over 6.5 million combined salary this year, the Bucks have 4 decently high volume 3 point shooters combining for 9.7/ 22.4 on 3 point attempts this year.

The Nuggets could def have used some cheap high volume 3 point shooting.

[HMFFL]

Denver extends the kid to $125m but decreases his shot attempts this season. That's even after Russ is no longer on the team. What Braun needs to improve on is his three point shooting but that's most of the team.

Management will need to do a better job getting Christian Braun and Cameron Johnson going.

He's taking 14.9 shots per 100 vs 14.8 per 100. He couldn't be more dead on exactly the same in terms of volume if he was actively trying. With that he's also increased his assists by a full assist per 100 which means he's got a higher usage.

Results will show once he attempts more shots and makes his shots. The slump has been an issue. Shots stilll need to increase.

[dhsilv2]

They needed a guy who could play defense and wasn't a negative on offense. Yeah it would be nice to get a top tier 3 and D player but those guys demand near or at the max kinds of salaries in today's game.

AJ Green...... salary 2m career 3p 42.9 this year 52.9 3.4/6.4. ! min 27.0
Ryan Rollins. salary 0.5m. career 3p 40.7 this year 38.5 1.9/4.9 min 31.0
Gary Trent Jr. salary. 2m. career 3p 39.0 this year 37.7 2.9/ 7.6 min 28.8
Taurean Prince salary 2m career 3p 38.4 this year 42.9. 1.5/3.5 min 21.1

For a little over 6.5 million combined salary this year, the Bucks have 4 decently high volume 3 point shooters combining for 9.7/ 22.4 on 3 point attempts this year.

The Nuggets could def have used some cheap high volume 3 point shooting.

Weirdly this just came up in another thread about how absolutely horrible that group of 4 guys are. They can't manage to get the Bucks to a league average defense despite having Turner and Giannis behind them to protect the rim. The nuggets need defense first, second and last. You don't want to pair Jokic with guys who can't keep infront of their man.

You pay more for defense in the league than shooting. But to get a defender who can also shoot...that's when the price sky rockets as the shooting gets better.

[dhsilv2]

Denver extends the kid to $125m but decreases his shot attempts this season. That's even after Russ is no longer on the team. What Braun needs to improve on is his three point shooting but that's most of the team.

Management will need to do a better job getting Christian Braun and Cameron Johnson going.

He's taking 14.9 shots per 100 vs 14.8 per 100. He couldn't be more dead on exactly the same in terms of volume if he was actively trying. With that he's also increased his assists by a full assist per 100 which means he's got a higher usage.

Results will show once he attempts more shots and makes his shots. The slump has been an issue. Shots stilll need to increase.

Well that's a different topic than what was said.

Denver is 5-2 with the number 2 offense in the league though. Braun needs to shoot better as do others just because defenses will adapt to what they're doing if they don't. But I don't see why they need Braun to do more than he's doing. Picking up his play making duties and keeping up his shooting volume while playing decent defense seems fine. I'd much rather see his play making and defense improve.

I would assume they are expecting Cam Johnson to pick up the volume right? If he picks his shots up as you'd expect then why would Braun? Braun is the clearly 5th guy among starters in terms of who should be shooting.

Jokic
Murray
Gordon
Johnson

Then I assume they want Hardaway to let them rip off the bench otherwise...they didn't sign him for defense.

I guess I'm confused as to what you're seeing here?

[og15]

They needed a guy who could play defense and wasn't a negative on offense. Yeah it would be nice to get a top tier 3 and D player but those guys demand near or at the max kinds of salaries in today's game.

AJ Green...... salary 2m career 3p 42.9 this year 52.9 3.4/6.4. ! min 27.0
Ryan Rollins. salary 0.5m. career 3p 40.7 this year 38.5 1.9/4.9 min 31.0
Gary Trent Jr. salary. 2m. career 3p 39.0 this year 37.7 2.9/ 7.6 min 28.8
Taurean Prince salary 2m career 3p 38.4 this year 42.9. 1.5/3.5 min 21.1

For a little over 6.5 million combined salary this year, the Bucks have 4 decently high volume 3 point shooters combining for 9.7/ 22.4 on 3 point attempts this year.

The Nuggets could def have used some cheap high volume 3 point shooting.

What about the defense part?

Cam won't shoot 27.6% 3PT all season.
Braun won't shoot 17.6% 3PT all season

Even Jokic and Murray won't shoot 30% 3PT all season

Nuggets are currently 2nd in Ortg while 22nd in 3PT%, and that can only go up based on the players they have. They don't need to swap defense for more offense or shooting.

[nomansland]

Braun said that the word's out on his transition offense and teams are focusing on stopping it. That's probably thrown him off kilter initially and could explain why he's hesitant to take shots. There's a bit of indecision whether to drive or shoot and then both options go away. He'll adjust sooner or later, and in the meantime the offense is humming along just fine.

I have a feeling the Nuggets are on the precipice of some offensive avalanches. The 3's aren't falling right now, but they will and when they do we're going to see a bunch of double digit wins.